


Sink to the Bottom

by killjoywhatsername



Category: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (TV)
Genre: BailBuddies, Eventual Romance, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Humor, Mutual Pining, Slow Burn, post-S3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21714892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killjoywhatsername/pseuds/killjoywhatsername
Summary: After finding out the news about Shy's European tour, Midge goes to a friend for a talk and a drink. Things go on from there.
Relationships: Lenny Bruce (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)/Miriam "Midge" Maisel
Comments: 17
Kudos: 201





	Sink to the Bottom

**Author's Note:**

> I don't even know what this is I just needed to write a Lenny/Midge fic. I apologize that I am not as funny as either character and cannot capture the ASP level of writing of these two so you're stuck with what I give. 
> 
> Dedicated to my boyfriend who barely hung out with me tonight so I spent the rest of it finishing this up.

Lenny knew he had an okay life even though he never felt like it. His career wouldn’t be terrible if the legal troubles didn’t cost an arm and a leg. As far as comedians went he was fairly popular. He would have some money if, again, it didn’t all go to legal issues and his drinking habits. Still, all in all, it wasn’t a terrible life. Besides, he was beginning to suspect that no one’s life could be bad with Midge Maisel in it. 

He couldn’t figure it out and he doubted he ever would. She was like a some sort of goddess, making everyone around her happy while wearing a bright pink ensemble and three inch heels. People like her should only exist in movies and television shows. She was like a character that was too large for life. The type that people watch on the silver screen and the critics would write off as unbelievable. Mrs. Maisel was believable, she made you want to believe the best in life. Her life, or what he knew of it, seemed to be one big joke even though she never seemed to treat it that way. 

Their friendship, if that is what it was called, he wasn’t really sure, was interesting. Up until Florida when he looked her up, they seemed to have just found each other at various times in their lives. He thought that was really something considering this was New York City. She would just appear and every single time he would be happy to see her. In their short time of knowing each other, he did not fail to notice that she had an ability to lit up everyone and everything around her. He had never seen anything like it. How anyone could leave such a person was beyond him.

This all brought him to his present situation. He was sitting at the bar waiting for her to show up. He felt nervous which was a new thing for him. He never got nervous around women, let alone Midge. They had an easy-flowing repertoire between them, but that might have changed. He hoped it hadn’t changed. He hadn’t seen her since Florida and although they left on friendly terms, he felt like he may have changed the dynamics between them. 

He had been thinking about her since the Steve Allen show He would find himself thinking about her and when his divorce finalized, he decided to make the leap. He just hoped he wouldn’t destroy it like he did with most everything else in his life. He started by sending the flowers which he thought was a pretty classy move. Then, he asked her out and by the end of the night it was pretty clear he was looking for something more than friendship. He had hoped it would go another way but found himself okay with just getting to dance with her, holding her so close.

It was the first time he wasn’t too upset about blue balls. 

After Florida, he didn’t think he was going to see her for awhile. Even with Shy putting his tour on hold, she still had a busy life full of family and friends. He also had his own gigs to worry about. He didn’t want to push this thing any farther so he thought he would just leave it to the universe, so far it had led him to her many times. He let himself hope it would lead him to cross paths with her again one day. 

And it had actually worked. Three months after that night in Miami he was back in New York. Somehow Midge had managed to track him down to his shithole of a hotel a few hours ago. A message was left to meet with her tonight at Dublin House. At first he was surprised that she managed to find him but then thought better of it considering this was Midge Maisel. Then he was surprised by the venue location but remembered their conversation before the Steve Allen show, somehow it had become their spot. 

He asked the bartender for another drink. He should’ve known better than to be on time. Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn’t notice it when she walked in the room. Her pristine off-white outfit stood out from the dank place like shining beacon. No one looking like her belonged in a place like this. She gave him a smile as she walked over to him, but he could tell it wasn’t one of her usual thousand-watt smiles. He was the king of fake smiles and laughs. It’s what his life had become. He didn’t want Midge to become anything like him.

“Long time no see.” She said, sliding onto the stool next to him and ordering a gin martini. 

“Been busy, stayin’ in trouble. You know, the usual,” He gestured with his drink in his hand, “Not that I mind the company, but you shouldn’t you be in Europe right now?”

The bartender set her drink in front of her. She thanked the bartender and then took her drink. She looked down at while frowning. He could have kicked himself, he had really fucked up. He was never one to mince words and here he was making one the best people in his life miserable.

“Do you ever wish you could just play by societies rules and not get arrested on a monthly basis?”

“Well, sometimes, but then I wouldn’t have met this cute brunette.” He said with a wink, unable to say anything serious yet. His default was comedy. It was just who he was, and yet he knew he had to give an actual answer, “Sometimes. When I get banned from another club or arrested and I’m all by myself, completely broke. It’s a terrible life, but you know I love it. If I played by the rules I wouldn’t be half as funny as I am, and I would be even more miserable. I would be a fraud and it would show. The only honest art form is laughter, comedy.” 

“I haven’t played by the rules much either.” Midge said. 

“What? Did you talk about the gal’s pregnancy again?” 

She shook her head, “No, but first there was Sophie Lennon, and I thought I learned not to go after people like that but now,” She paused, set her drink down and then went right into it, talking a mile a minute, “I fucked up. I went opened for Shy the other night at The Apollo, and I was nervous. They had me go on after Mom’s Mabley! At The Apollo! It really should have been the other way around. Susie had some family thing and Reggie told me to talk about Shy so I did, and I killed it. I had everyone in that audience,” She said and had that wild, excited look in her eye that he knew all too well. As soon as that wild look appeared, it was gone once, “Except I said things too close to home and so now I am off the tour.”

He processed everything she said, it was a lot to take in. He wanted to say that Shy shouldn’t have gave her top billing over someone like Mom’s Mabley, but he knew the effect Midge had on people and so he let it slide. Besides she was one damn good comedian. He didn’t know what she said during her set, but he was sure she didn’t mean it. It had been a long time since his small club days, but he stills remembers. He still knows the rush of being on the stage. It happens more rarely for him, but in those early days adrenaline was a helluva drug. Now, he just had other drugs to supplement it. 

He swirled around his drink in his glass, watching as the alcohol swished back and forth, “You killed it? Even after going on Mom’s Mabley? You? Someone who would make a vampire look tan?”

She held her chin high and the Upper West Side background was coming out, “I did. The whole theater was laughing. It was exhilarating. I have never performed for that many people, and at a place like The Apollo! It was amazing. I never felt like that before.” She said, the excitement back in her voice as she relived her previous night. 

He leaned back and gestured at her with his hand in the air, “Then you’ll be fine.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Midge Maisel should not be asking him for assurance. If anything it should be the other way around, he didn’t really get why she put such value on what he thought. He felt the same way in Miami when she pestered him about how she did during her set. 

“Look, I don’t usually dole out advice. No one should listen to me even if they asked what the color of the sky is, I am not a, uh, trustworthy man. I am the worst person you could have ever come to, Joseph McCarthy would be better at advice than me,” He began and was pleased when she gave him a small authentic smile. He would not leave tonight until he got a patented Maisel smile. This was a start. He then pulled out a cigarette and lit it, “but you are talented. You’re the real fucking deal and you made it this far. If Shy Baldwin, uh, couldn’t handle a few jokes at his expense then you’ll find the next big thing, hell you’ll be the next big thing. You’ve been at this for what? Three years? Most people would still be playing The Gaslight on a regular basis, not opening for someone like Shy. You are going to go places. I don’t drag just anyone onto a television show and tell everyone they’re my wife and possibly sister. I save that for someone special.”

She was quiet and he didn’t say anything either. Maybe he over did it,or said the wrong thing. That would be typical of him. He hoped he didn’t say anything stupid. The only noises were the shitty music playing from the jukebox and everyone talking around them. 

All of his worries went away as soon as she grinned at him. It was one of those patented Maisel smiles that he was aiming for, “McCarthy was the best you could come up with?”

He barked out a laugh, “I told you I am not good at the whole advice thing.”

“He’s been dead for three years!” She said with a laugh, a smile still playing on her bright pink lips.

“Is this all you took from that speech? I pour my heart out and this is what I get. I am wounded. “ He put his hand over his heart and smiled. This was a lot easier. He knew everything was going to be okay between them.

Until her smile went away and she took another sip of her drink, “I don’t know how I am going to face my family tonight. They already don’t approve of my stand-up and this is just going give them more ammunition for to be against it.”

“You could come back to my place. I promise there will be no disapproving Jewish parents. At least I hope so.” He said before he could stop himself. He wanted to slap himself. She was going to think he was a total sleeze, and maybe he was, but he didn’t want her to think that.

“At the hotel?” It wasn’t a no. He should not have found her upper class arrogance as cute as it was, but that was just Midge for you. He knew she didn’t mean it. She was a paradox. The picture perfect housewife done up in pearls and dressed head to toe in pink, who also smoked the occasional joint and swore like a sailor. 

“I really like the little shampoo bottles. That, and they make my bed for me. I can’t go wrong with service like that.” He replied. He took a puff of his cigarette, “It’s just a suggestion. I can even pretend to be a gentleman and sleep on the pull out couch, if you want.” 

She finished her drink and looked at him. She looked as if she was weighing the pros and cons. The pros must have kicked the cons asses because her next words went straight to his chest, “I like you just the way you are, you don’t have to sleep on the couch.” She stood up and grabbed her purse, “Come on, I want to see what’s so special about these shampoos.”

Before he knew it she was heading out the door into the crisp autumn weather of New York City. He quickly threw some money done on the bar and followed. Wondering what the rest of the night had in store for him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from the song 'Sink to the Bottom' by Fountains of Wayne which was used in the post-credits of 3x07 but I felt like it was such a Lenny song. 
> 
> This might be a multi-chapter thing? Tell me what you think.


End file.
